Cheesy Chicken Penne Pasta (clean eating)

If you think clean eating can't be delicious, this recipe will prove you wrong. I can’t say enough how phenomenal this pasta dish was. Also, it says 4 servings, but it makes a very large batch. It ended up being 6 servings for me. I’ve never cooked the spinach this way and I was nervous it wouldn’t work but it did. New cooking hack! This is definitely going into my dinner rotation. Also, feel free to add mushrooms or other veggies that you enjoy too.

Makes: 4 servings

Each Serving Contains: 2 Proteins, 1 Carbohydrate, 2 Vegetables, 1 Fat

INGREDIENTS

1 cup whole wheat penne pasta, uncooked

1 tsp olive oil

1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

5 cups baby spinach

1 tsp dried basil

1 14.5-oz jar spaghetti sauce (I used organic)

2 cloves garlic

1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, liquid drained

2 oz ricotta cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook pasta according to package directions (omit salt). Add spinach to boiling water for the last minute of cooking.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and basil. Cook 3 minutes. Stir in spaghetti sauce, garlic and drained tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat for 3 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in ricotta cheese.

Drain pasta and return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Spoon into 2-quart baking dish. Bake 20 minutes. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake 3 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 small can diced green chiles

1 packet taco seasoning

14.5 oz. can chicken broth

2 cans northern beans, drained and rinsed (I used one)

8 oz. block cream cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

sliced green onions

Frito chips

Place onion and jalapeno in bottom of crock pot. Put chicken on top.  Add green chiles, taco seasoning, chicken broth, and beans. Cover crock pot and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours.  Add cream cheese and cook on LOW for 1 more hour.  Add shredded cheese and stir until cheese melts, shredding the chicken as you stir. If cheese doesn't melt all the way, cover for 5 to 10 minutes.  Serve with green onions and Frito chips.

As odd as it sounds, I had never made or even eaten white chicken chili before but man am I glad I did! Throw everything together in the crockpot and wait for a creamy, delicious meal? Yes, please! 

Tangy Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breast, sliced into tenders

½ cup bbq sauce (I used Jack Daniels Spicy)

1 tbsp. Franks Red Hot sauce

½ an onion, diced

¼ cup minced garlic

¼ cup brown sugar

A few dashes of Cajun seasoning and/or hickory smoke salt

Place all ingredients in a plastic bag and make sure all chicken pieces are coated.  Refrigerate for 2 hours so that flavors can meld together.  Grill over medium heat until chicken is done and juices run clear.  If it’s not grilling season, bake in oven for 25 minutes at 350. 

These are great as is but I love to make slider sandwiches with them! All you need to do is cover with a piece of pepper jack cheese and serve on a sweet Hawaiian roll.  Yum!

Chicken Tator Tot Bake

Ingredients

¼ cup 2% low-fat milk

1 cup low-fat sour cream

1 (10 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 can of corn, drained

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

16 ounces frozen tater tots

1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine milk, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, corn and chicken in medium size pot.  Place on stove top over medium-high heat.  Stir and heat until ingredients mix well; about 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup shredded cheese. salt and pepper.  Pour mixture into 9X12 glass baking dish.

Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese over mixture.  Place tator tots on top of mixture.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove aluminum foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes uncovered.

This was a nice twist on your classic tator tot casserole. I used pre diced chicken chunks from the deli.  Mine turned out a little salty.  It was very good but definitely on the salty side.  Possibly because I had the chicken strips that are packaged?  If you use real chicken breasts I think it would be better.  

Crockpot cheesy chicken & rice

Guest blog by Kristin O’Meara

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) box Zatarain’s yellow rice, cooked according to package

4 boneless chicken breasts

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 (15 oz) can of corn, drained

2 cups chicken stock

Place chicken in crockpot and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with chopped onions.  Mix together chicken broth and cream of chicken soup.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or 4 hours on high). 

Before serving, shred the chicken with 2 forks.  Add in cooked rice, shredded cheese and corn.  Mix well until cheese is melted and serve. 

Easy to make warm meal for winter.  And who doesn’t like chicken and cheesy goodness?  This was great plain and I also tried with chips.  I bet it would be good on a bun too, like a sandwich.  

Ritz Chicken

Review by Lyndee:

Want a fast and easy chicken recipe that tastes heavenly?  Look no further! I found it last night.  Thanks Six Sisters Stuff!

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1 cup Ritz crackers, crushed (I used bacon flavored)

½ teaspoon garlic salt

black pepper to taste

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together crackers, garlic salt, and black pepper. Dip each chicken breast in the beaten eggs, and then dredge in the cracker mixture, coating it completely.

Place each coated chicken breast in a 9x13 pan.  Cut the butter up into small pieces, and put them over the top of the chicken breasts. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

The verdict

My chicken breasts were in a garlic marinade.  I did not use ½ cup butter. Instead, I just put a tiny pat on each breast.  If you want a crispier texture, more like fried chicken, then use the full amount of butter.  The only Ritz crackers I had in the house were bacon flavored. I’m not sure if it was the garlic, the bacon or the combo but this chicken was out of this world! Super easy to make.  We whipped it together, put it in the oven and went for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.  When we returned, it was done perfectly.  

Kickin’ Chicken

Review by Lyndee:

Ingredients

2-3 lbs of Chicken (I used boneless, skinless breasts)

1 c. Frank's RedHot Original

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. lime juice (fresh is best, but bottle is good too)

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (you can use garlic powder)

In a medium size bowl, mix RedHot, olive oil, lime juice and garlic.  Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over top, making sure the chicken is submerged.  Marinade for four hours in the fridge. Remove chicken from marinade and grill.  The chicken is great with fresh lime juice squeezed on top! 

I grilled this chicken last night after a 3 mile walk and it was perfect.  Just the right amount of heat and it couldn't be easier to make.  This is definitely going in the winner, winner chicken dinner rotation. 

Teriyaki Chicken Club

Review by Lyndee:

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast

2 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tsp minced garlic

1 piece white bread (toasted)

1 piece bacon

1 piece smoked cheddar cheese

I love chicken. I know it’s good for me. But sometimes, it can bore my tongue.  The other night I had marinated a chicken breast in teriyaki sauce and a tsp of minced garlic. I was super hungry and wanted to make something new.  I grilled the chicken breast and made it into this club sandwich. It was awesome.  No dipping condiments needed and it couldn’t be easier to make.  As your chicken is finishing up, set a slice of smoked cheddar (or pepperjack or swiss would be good too) on top so that it melts slightly. Add one piece of cooked bacon.  Butter a piece of toast and cut in half.  You could add lettuce or tomato to this as well.  Seriously easy and delicious.  

Chicken tortilla wraps

Review by Lyndee

Ingredients:

1 tortilla

Shredded chicken breast

2 tbsp cream cheese

Fat free ranch

Shredded cheddar

Bake or grill chicken breast.  Shred when cooled. Spread cream cheese onto tortilla.  Drizzle with ranch dressing.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese to taste.  I used about 1/8 of a cup.  Add chicken.  Roll tight and refrigerate.  Cut into sections before eating.

This is a great way to use up chicken breast.  Easy to make snack or lunch idea.  

Bacon-Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers

Review by Lyndee

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs

8 oz. bacon, not thick-sliced

1 can pineapple chunks

Teriyaki Baste and Glaze (I like Kikkoman or LaChoy)

Kebab skewers or toothpicks

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. You can gauge about how many pieces you'll need by how many pieces of bacon you have; you probably won't use all the bacon, but you'll need about 8 oz. or 2/3 of a standard-sized package of bacon. So count the bacon pieces and keep that in mind when cutting up your chicken.

Drain the pineapple and set up a little work station with skewers, bacon, chicken, and a 9x13 baking dish (for big skewers) or a sturdy Ziploc bag (for toothpick skewers). Wrap a piece of bacon around a chicken piece, secure with toothpick/skewer, and top with a chunk of pineapple. Repeat twice if using large skewers.

When all chicken pieces have been sufficiently staked, pour Teriyaki sauce over everything, reserving about 1/4 c., and marinate in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, no longer than 8.

Preheat grill; when about 350-400 degrees, place skewers on grill and baste with reserved Teriyaki sauce. Cook about 7 minutes and flip skewers. Baste again and cook another 7 minutes.  If cooking in oven, preheat oven to 400 and bake about 20 minutes, turning once, following the same basting instructions.  If you use the oven, broil the kabobs for a minute to get the bacon crispy just before serving.

I was not a pro at wrapping the chicken with the bacon. So I ended up “weaving” the bacon along with the chicken onto the skewer. It tasted just as good and didn’t take nearly as much time.  These kabobs were awesome! Packed with protein and flavor you just can’t go wrong with these sweet little nuggets of fun. Note, my husband isn’t a huge fan of pineapple so I did a few skewers without the fruit for him but he said they were equally awesome.  

Fiesta chicken

Review by Lyndee:

Ingredients:

2 cups grilled chicken breast (or 2 cans of chicken breast chunks)

2 cups medium shell pasta (cooked)

2 cups cheddar/jack shredded cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can Rotel

½ cup milk

1 can diced chilies (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients except cheese.  Pour into a 9x13 pan, cover with cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

My oven was full of other things when I was making this so I decided to just do it as a stove top recipe.  I halved the shredded cheese and used some velveeta to make it creamy.  I opted not to use the diced chilies and I’m glad I did.  This has some good kick to it with just the rotel.  Mine was a bit soupy but it was really good.  This is super easy to make via skillet or baking, I’m sure.  Kid and husband friendly quick recipe for dinner.  

Brown sugar chicken (in the crockpot)

Review by Jami:

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless breast halves or 12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon-lime soda

2/3 cup vinegar (I used white wine, but think regular white would be fine)

3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic

2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat free are GF)

1 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Plop the chicken into your crockpot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

The Plan: I wanted to make a rockin’ chicken dish without a lot of work. Crockpot! I skimmed some online options until I found one that sounded good and only required ingredients I had on hand. No grocery shopping for me, brown sugar chicken was the perfect solution.

The Changes: I actually followed the recipe for once but I used a wild rice mixture rather then white for more nutrition and plate appeal. Some homemade bread and snow peas rounded out the meal for us, but sides are up to you.

The Procedure: Dump everything in the slow cooker as directed. Come back several hours later and feast. Couldn’t be easier.

The Result: This dish was a hit with the family, though I found it a little too sweet. It would be great for kids though and a nice disguise for boring protein.

Recommendations: I used only 3 boneless, skinless breasts and they didn’t need to cook as long since I wasn’t making a large batch. I say start small and test the recipe first. I didn’t love it personally, but everyone else enjoyed it so maybe it’s just me. I give it an “ehh” and probably will experiment with other dishes before coming back to this one.

Spinach & pepper jack stuffed chicken

Review by Lyndee

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded (you can use up to 6 oz)

1 c frozen spinach, thawed and drained (I used fresh spinach)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp Cajun seasoning

1 tbsp breadcrumbs (I used Italian because that’s what was in the cupboard)

Sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Flatten the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness.  In a medium bowl, combine the pepper jack cheese, spinach, salt and pepper.  Combine the Cajun seasoning and breadcrumbs together in a small bowl.  Spoon about 1/4 c of the spinach mixture onto each chicken breast. 

Roll each chicken breast tightly and fasten with toothpicks.  Brush each chicken breast with the vegetable oil.  Sprinkle the Cajun seasoning mixture evenly over all. Sprinkle any remaining spinach and cheese on top of chicken (optional). 

Place the chicken seam-side down onto a tin foil-lined baking sheet (for easy cleanup).  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.  Remove the toothpicks before serving.

This recipe turned out so awesome! I loved it! I didn’t have a meat tenderizer so I used a hammer and wax paper to flatten the chicken. I could’ve flattened it a little bit more to make the rolling easier, but it worked as is. Do not try to use a plastic ladle to flatten.  It will break, as I found out last night. I will definitely make this chicken again. It was so juicy and flavorful.